Virus-specific humoral and cellular immunity act synergistically to protect the host from viral infection. We interrogated the dynamic changes of virological and immunological parameters in 12 patients with symptomatic acute SARS-CoV-2 infection from disease onset to convalescence or death. We quantified SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in the respiratory tract in parallel with antibodies and circulating T cells specific for various structural (NP, M, ORF3a and spike) and non-structural proteins (ORF7/8, NSP7 and NSP13). We observed that while rapid induction and quantity of humoral responses were associated with increased disease severity, an early induction of SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells was present in patients with mild disease and accelerated viral clearance. These findings provide further support for a protective role of SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells over antibodies during SARS-CoV-2 infection with important implications in vaccine design and immune-monitoring.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2特异性T细胞的早期诱导与COVID-19患者的快速病毒清除和轻度疾病相关

病毒特异的体液和细胞免疫具有协同作用，可保护宿主免受病毒感染。我们询问了12例有症状的急性SARS-CoV-2感染患者从疾病发作到恢复或死亡的病毒学和免疫学参数的动态变化。我们对呼吸道中的SARS-CoV-2病毒RNA进行了定量分析，并与针对各种结构蛋白（NP，M，ORF3a和刺突）和非结构蛋白（ORF7 / 8，NSP7和NSP13）的抗体和循环T细胞平行。我们观察到，虽然快速诱导和大量体液反应与疾病严重程度增加相关，但在轻度疾病和加速病毒清除的患者中，SARS-CoV-2特异性T细胞的早期诱导存在。